Must be years since I dropped in here, and probably some time after I bought my Stradivari machine. Hello again.I wanted to share some of it's history.

This machine has, I reckon, blown every seal it has at some point in it's (ludicrously busy) life, but yet... survives..!Ity gets a regular dismantle and service... cleaned and re-siliconed etc...

Only one major crisis made me feel that I just wanted to chuck it, and it was when it blew the bottom boiler seal, but a local engineer said he'd fix that, and he did... that was years ago. It has survived many a minor niggle, but just this week the boiler cap cracked and I was left thinking again... maybe it's had it's day... it's getting far too rickety to go on much longer. I tried to glue it (with the wrong glue) and it popped time and time again. Now... I have just used epoxy resin, secure up to 100 degrees in temperature, and it has a lovely jubilee clip around the cap too :) It works..!

What can I say..? If this machine's survival against all the odds isn't a recommendation for La Pavoni... I don't know what is.

The La Pavoni manual levers are all pretty simple machines. Just replace seals, cylinder liner and other parts as necessary and it should last many decades. There's a refurbishment of a 1961 La Pavoni lever starting on H-B right now by DrGary there. 53 years old machine, and it will likely work well again.

The top caps are replaceable, so if your epoxy doesn't hold there are always options.

Glad you are enjoying the machine, as they really are quite good once you understand them.

Symbols: = New Posts since your last visit = No New Posts since last visit = Newest post

Forum Rules:No profanity, illegal acts or personal attacks will be tolerated in these discussion boards.No commercial posting of any nature will be tolerated; only private sales by private individuals, in the "Buy and Sell" forum.No SEO style postings will be tolerated. SEO related posts will result in immediate ban from CoffeeGeek.No cross posting allowed - do not post your topic to more than one forum, nor repost a topic to the same forum.Who Can Read The Forum? Anyone can read posts in these discussion boards.Who Can Post New Topics? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post new topics.Who Can Post Replies? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post replies.Can Photos be posted? Anyone can post photos in their new topics or replies.Who can change or delete posts? Any CoffeeGeek member can edit their own posts. Only moderators can delete posts.Probationary Period: If you are a new signup for CoffeeGeek, you cannot promote, endorse, criticise or otherwise post an unsolicited endorsement for any company, product or service in your first five postings.